Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland, Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas, after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.
In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk.
Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.
Nelson uses a variety of music styles to create his own distinctive blend of country music, a hybrid of jazz, pop, blues, rock and folk. His "unique sound", which uses a "relaxed, behind-the-beat singing style and gut-string guitar" and his "nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing", has been responsible for his wide appeal, and has made him a "vital icon in country music", influencing the "new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the 1980s and 1990s".
In 1969, the Baldwin company gave Nelson an amplifier and guitar with their "Prismatone" pickup. During a show in Helotes, Texas, Nelson left the guitar on the floor of the stage, and it was later stepped on by a drunk man. He sent it to be repaired in Nashville by Shot Jackson, who told Nelson that the damage was too great. Jackson offered him a Martin N-20 Classical guitar, and, at Nelson's request, moved the pickup to the Martin. Nelson purchased the guitar unseen for $750 and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger". The next year Nelson rescued the guitar from his burning ranch.
Constant strumming with a guitar pick over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole—the N-20 has no pick-guard since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with picks. Its soundboard has been signed by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, ranging from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches. The first signature on the guitar was Leon Russell's, who asked Nelson initially to sign his guitar. When Nelson was about to sign it with a marker, Russell requested him to scratch it instead, explaining that the guitar would be more valuable in the future. Interested in the concept, Nelson requested Russell to also sign his guitar. In 1991, during his process with the IRS, Nelson was worried that Trigger could be auctioned off, stating: "When Trigger goes, I'll quit". He asked his daughter, Lana, to take the guitar from the studio before any IRS agent arrived there, and then deliver it to him in Maui. Nelson then concealed the guitar in his manager's house until his debt was paid off in 1993.
Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. In 2011, Nelson was inducted to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, for his labor in Farm Aid and other fund raisers to benefit farmers. In 2015 Nelson won the Gershwin Prize, the lifetime award of the Library of Congress. In 2018 The Texas Institute of Letters inducted him among its members for his songwriting. He was included by Rolling Stone on its 100 Greatest Singers and 100 Greatest Guitarists lists.
Nobody
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As he tried to tell his wife
That the job he'd had for years
He'd worked hard all his life
That everything went south
And he couldn't meet the bills
And he had to sell the house
That his daddy built
And he'd ask how such a thing could be happening
But he was sure there was nobody listening
In the Gulf of Mexico
Near the town of New Orleans
Where all the tourists go
In this land of hopes and dreams
Then there came a killer storm
A devastating flood
And the people, they were warned
That it would turn their streets to mud
Sure enough, that storm took everything
And it was like there was nobody listening
In these days of change and mass communication
Seems like no one's plugged into the sounds of desperation
And they say the future's just an extension of the past
And history has a knack of coming back
Now the writer takes his pen
And he tries to find the words
Though time and time again
They often go unheard
And the singer sings his song
And he tries to impart
All the troubles going on
Weighing heavy on his heart
But what good is the song that he has to sing
When nobody's listening?
But I know why he has to try to sing
'Cause he believes that somebody's listening
The lyrics to Willie Nelson's song "Nobody" touch on the theme of hopelessness and despair that follows a calamitous event or situation in life. The song tells two stories of people facing difficult times, and despite their best efforts to push through, they feel forsaken by life and the world around them. The first story is about a man who loses his job and realizes he may lose everything he owns, including the house his father built. He is distraught and can't understand how this is happening to him, and feels like there is nobody listening to his troubles.
The second story is about a catastrophic hurricane that hits the Gulf of Mexico, destroying everything in its path. The people are warned, but the storm takes everything anyway, and it feels like nobody is listening to their cries for help. The lyrics suggest that in these days of mass communication and change, people are losing touch with the sounds of desperation, and the future feels like an extension of the past. Despite the overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair, the chorus of the song reminds us that even though nobody may seem to be listening, we must keep singing and keep trying to find hope.
In essence, the song is painting a picture of people facing difficult times and feeling like they are entirely alone, but it also encourages those people not to give up, even when it feels like there is no one listening. The song is a call for hope, a reminder that even in the darkest moments, we must keep believing that somebody is listening.
Line by Line Meaning
He was choking back the tears
He was trying to hold back his emotions
As he tried to tell his wife
He attempted to communicate something important to his spouse
That the job he'd had for years
The employment he held for a long time
He'd worked hard all his life
He dedicated himself fully to his job
That everything went south
It all went downhill
And he couldn't meet the bills
He was unable to pay for his expenses
And he had to sell the house
He had to let go of the property he owned
That his daddy built
The house constructed through his father's efforts
And he'd ask how such a thing could be happening
He would inquire about the cause of the unfortunate circumstances
But he was sure there was nobody listening
He believed no one heard his questions or concerns
In the Gulf of Mexico
The body of water located in the southern region of North America
Near the town of New Orleans
Close to the American city of New Orleans in Louisiana
Where all the tourists go
A popular destination for visitors
In this land of hopes and dreams
In the nation which seems to promise endless opportunities
Then there came a killer storm
A dangerous hurricane occurred
A devastating flood
An overwhelming deluge of water
And the people, they were warned
Citizens received messages of caution
That it would turn their streets to mud
Their passageways would be converted into dirt through the storm's impact
Sure enough, that storm took everything
The fate which people were warned about came true
And it was like there was nobody listening
No one responded to their calls for help
In these days of change and mass communication
Presently, in a time of alteration and extensive correspondence
Seems like no one's plugged into the sounds of desperation
It appears that people don't care about urgent voices
And they say the future's just an extension of the past
Many express that what happens next is based on what happened before
And history has a knack of coming back
The previous events tend to repeat themselves
Now the writer takes his pen
The author uses a pen to create
And he tries to find the words
They attempt to locate the phrasing they want to use
Though time and time again
Despite numerous attempts
They often go unheard
Few ever hear them
And the singer sings his song
The vocalist performs their music
And he tries to impart
The artist endeavors to convey a message
All the troubles going on
All of the problems occurring
Weighing heavy on his heart
It's a burden that impacts the singer emotionally
But what good is the song that he has to sing
What is the point of the track they perform
When nobody's listening?
If no one pays attention to it?
But I know why he has to try to sing
However, I understand the reason that they still attempt to perform
'Cause he believes that somebody's listening
It's because they believe at least one person will hear them
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Willie Nelson, Buddy Cannon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Tom Wright
Solid gold
Alexandros Emmanouelides
Bless this great American...
drgjh
Wonderful.. and what a contrast to Led Zeppelin
Rival_240
Damn right
TrinkBruder
I bought the CD and YT is distorting the signal. Really? I gotta get my CD to make the static in my BT speaker go away?
Amazing
He stole this song
MySkybreaker
He didnt steal it lol. He covered it. This video just didnt credit willie.